Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield – Cape Girardeau, during his homily this morning, called to mind the desire we have to belong.  We have been reflecting on this all weekend, and Bishop Rice reminded us that we as humans have this desire to belong to something bigger than ourselves. For us as Catholics, we belong to Christ.

Bishop Rice pointed out that no one likes being an outsider and if we don’t feel like we belong to a group, we can feel unwanted and unloved.  He then reminded us of the sacrament that immediately brings us into Christ and his Church.  At our Baptism, we are immediately incorporated into the life of Christ.  Bishop Rice reminded us that we no longer belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

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“What have you gotten into that has made you forget that you belong?”

This quote sums up the entire message that Noelle Garcia conveyed to the conference this evening.  What struggles have caused distance between us and Christ?  What has made us forget that He loves us and longs for us to live in relationship with Him?

Noelle, after sharing some crazy stories about her family, brought to mind another story.  The raising of Lazarus.  Jesus went to Judea and was told by Martha that Lazarus was dead, and even blamed Jesus for not being there sooner.  After this, Jesus told Lazarus to rise and exit his tomb. And Lazarus did just that.

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David Calavitta opened the men’s session this afternoon by leading the men in a loud roar.  Literally, the entire arena erupted with the loud screams of all the men gathered at the conference.  He then called the men to lean into Christ’s message during this session.

David opened with telling the story of the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste. These men were sent into a frozen lake to die – and, being holy Christians – died together as brothers.  He said, “I want to be that kind of man that lives and dies together with his brothers.”

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Today was my third time being at the volunteer Mass on Friday before the Steubenville conference begins, and it’s one of my favorite Masses to attend all year. The anticipation is real. The hype is real. Steuby is finally here!

Over 100 volunteers gathered at Missouri State University’s Catholic Student Center to celebrate Mass before the conference. These men and women willingly gave up their entire weekend to serve at this conference.  At the beginning of his homily, Bishop Edward Rice of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese thanked the volunteers for their commitment.

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